Some Interesting Facts about
Nikola Tesla
Did You Know?...
Nikola Tesla was considered an eccentric man
who talked of death rays that could destroy 10,000
airplanes at a distance of 250 miles. However, Tesla
devised the AC (alternating current) system that we use
in our homes today. AC offered great advantages over the
rival DC system.
By using Tesla's transformers, AC voltages could be
stepped up (or down) and transmitted over long distances
through thin wires. DC could not (it required a large
power plant every square mile and had to be transmitted
through very thick cables). Tesla also invented electric
motors that today are used in every appliance in your
house. He invented fluorescent bulbs and neon signs. He
designed the world's first hydroelectric plant, in Niagara Falls
and patented the first speedometer for cars. Thomas
Edison, who's money was invested in DC power systems, did
his best to discredit Tesla. Edison even went so far as
to claimed that AC electricity was far more dangerous
than his DC power.
At the 1893
World Exposition in Chicago, Tesla
demonstrated the safety AC electricity was by passing
high frequency AC power through his body to power light
bulbs. He then was able to shoot large lightning bolts
from his Tesla coils to the crowd without harm.
By 1898, he was demonstrating to the world the first
remote controlled model boat at Madison Square Garden.
Tesla wanted to provide free energy to the world and in
1900 began construction of a "Wireless Broadcasting
System" tower on Long Island, New York. This tower
was intended to link the world's telephone and telegraph
services, and transmit pictures, stock reports, and
weather information worldwide.
Tesla ran into financial trouble with the world thinking
he was insane. The transmission of voice, picture, and
electricity was unheard of at this time.
Tesla demonstrated the principles behind radio nearly ten
years before Marconi. In 1943 the US Supreme
Court ruled that Marconi's patents were invalid due to
Tesla's descriptions of his work. Still, most references
do not credit Tesla with the invention of radio.
Tesla made the earth into an electric tuning fork by
getting a steam-driven oscillator to vibrate at the same
frequency as the ground. The result was an earthquake in
the surrounding city. He had accurately determined the
resonant frequencies of the Earth almost 60 years before
science could confirm his results.
In 1899, he sent waves of energy through the Earth, thus
providing the theory for earthquake seismic stations. By
adding electricity to the returning energy he created the
largest man-made lightning bolt ever recorded (130 feet).
The accompanying thunder was heard 22 miles away and
created a blue glow around the meadow outside his
Colorado laboratory.
At the beginning of World War I, Tesla proposed the use
of energy waves to detect German submarines (known today
as RADAR). Thomas Edison rejected his idea as ludicrous.
Eventually, Tesla was awarded the Edison Medal, which was
an insult to Tesla, given the verbal abuse that he had
taken from Edison.
Tesla died penniless at age 86 on January 7, 1943. In his
lifetime, he received over 800 different patents.
Scientists continue to scour through his notes.
The "Tesla bladeless disk turbine engine" that
he designed, when made with modern materials, is proving
to be among the most efficient motors ever made.
Experiments he performed with cryogenic liquids and
electricity provide the foundation for modern
superconductors. He also talked about experiments that
suggested particles with fractional charges of an
electron. In 1977 they were "discovered" as
quarks!
Nikola Tesla has been referred to as "the man who invented the 20th century."
His use of alternating electrical currents and invention of the AC engine
brought revolutionary changes in electrical power generation and transmission
that remain the global standard today. Tesla recited entire books from memory,
and designed his machines in his head, rather than on paper. He was also
frequently ridiculed for proposing "impossible" inventions … which he then went
and invented anyway.
Various Nikola Tesla Quotes:
* “The idea came like a flash of lightning and in an instant the truth was
revealed.”
* “The motors I build there were exactly as I imagined them. I made no
attempt to improve the design, but merely reproduced the pictures as they
appeared to my vision and the operation was always as I expected.”
* “Ideas came in an uninterrupted stream and the only difficulty I had was to
hold them fast ... In less than two months I evolved virtually all the types of
motors and modifications of the systems which now identified with my name.”
* “I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart
like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding
to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love,
everything.”
* “Instinct is something which transcends knowledge. We have, undoubtedly,
certain finer fibers that enable us to perceive truths when logical deduction,
or any other willful effort of the brain, is futile.”
* “When wireless is fully applied the earth will be converted into a huge
brain, capable of response in every one of its parts.”
* “Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work
and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really
worked, is mine.”
* “If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once
with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the
object of his search. I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a
little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his
labor.”
* “I have always been ahead of my time.”
Some Interesting Facts about Nikola Tesla:
Nikola was born the son of an Orthodox Priest, Tesla claimed to sleep just 2 to
3 hours a day. Whereas Sir Isaac Newton needed 3-4 hours of sleep daily.
When Tesla arrived in New York from Serbia, he had 4 cents to his name.
Tesla brought a letter of recommendation to Thomas Edison that read: "My Dear
Edison: I know two great men and you are one of them. The other is this young
man!"
He was offered $50,000 to improve some of Edison's ideas, but when he delivered,
Edison claimed that he had only been "joking," and refused to pay him.
Tesla achieved the "impossible" by demonstrating a working brushless polyphase
AC induction motor to a group of wealthy investors – none of whom would invest a
penny.
In 1886, Tesla persuaded investors to fund the Tesla Electric Light &
Manufacturing Company. Tesla invented a revolutionary arc lamp and the company
made money. The investors then promptly reaped the profits and fired Tesla, who
was forced into manual labor to survive.
Tesla discovered X-ray radiation 3 years before Wilhelm Roentgen was credited
for the same discovery.
As a boy, Tesla saw a likeness of Niagara Falls, and dreamed of harnessing the
power of the water to create electricity. In 1893, he succeeded in doing just
that. Investors included W. K. Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt.
Although Tesla demonstrated his invention of the radio in 1893 and received a
patent for it, the patent office stripped the award in 1904 and gave it instead
to Guglielmo Marconi. Since both Thomas Edison and Andrew Carnegie had invested
in Marconi and not in Tesla. Tesla fought for 29 years to reacquire his patent,
finally getting a hearing in the US Supreme Court. With finding that 15 of
Marconi's 16 patents were actually invented by Tesla himself, the court rules in
Tesla's favor in 1944 – a year after his death.
When inventor George Washington Carver’s paintings were displayed at the 1893
World's Fair Exposition, they were lit using Tesla's AC power – although Edison
refused to allow use of his light bulbs.
In 1898, the United States military showed no interest when Tesla demonstrated a
remote-controlled boat. Even though Tesla's wireless device was the beginning of
the technology that enabled robotics that were initially conceived by Leonardo
da Vinci.
Tesla worked for many years attempting his wireless transmission of electricity
and believed that electricity could be projected into the upper atmosphere for
storage and access at will.
J Pierpont Morgan invested $150,000 in Tesla's idea to build a gigantic radio
transmitter – but then refused to invest any further after it was revealed that
Tesla was instead trying to transmit electrical power wirelessly.
In order to keep electricity inexpensive to the public, Tesla sold George
Westinghouse his own royalties, which were worth $12 million, for just $216,000.
If Tesla had kept his royalties, he may have been the first billionaire, sharing
financial history with the likes of John D. Rockefeller the worlds first in
1916, Howard Hughes, and Bill Gates who became the first man to reach $100
billion in 1999.
In 1917, he received the Edison Medal from the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers. A previous president of the AIEE was Alexander Graham Bell.
Tesla and the great storyteller, Mark Twain, were very close friends.
Orson Wells played Tesla in the 1980 Yugoslavian film Tajna Nikole Tesle
(English translation: "The Secret of Nikola Tesla").
In his latter years, Tesla asserted that he had indeed discovered a limitless
power supply from a source that no one else had even suspected, but he never
revealed the source.
He claimed to have designed a death ray – or "peace ray," as he preferred – that
could electrocute an approaching army completely at a distance of 200 miles.
Tesla adorned the cover of Time Magazine in 1931, and was praised by Albert
Einstein as "an eminent pioneer in the realm of high frequency currents..."
In 1928 he received his last patent, which was a forerunner to the modern day
helicopter, which was initially conceived of by Leonardo da Vinci. In his
lifetime some have stated that he had applied for 840 patents and received 700.
What can be found is that he has 112 US Patents and 34 International Patents.
Regardless, he was known as the Father of Radio, Television, Power Transmission,
and the Induction Motor.
Nikola Tesla's Death:
On January 7, 1943: Tesla died penniless and alone in room #3327 of the Hotel
New Yorker. Soon after his death, the United States Government (with the help of
the FBI) seized all of his research materials and writings, most of which never
again reappeared.
Thousands paid their respects to Tesla at his Manhattan funeral.
| Books About or by Nikola Tesla:
|
| |
| Tesla: Man Out of Time |
By Margaret Cheney |
|
Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla |
By Marc Seifer |
|
The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla |
By Tim Swartz |
|
Tesla : The Lost Inventions |
By George Trinkaus |
|
Nikola Tesla's Earthquake Machine |
By Dale Pond |
|
Tesla Papers on Free Energy |
By Nikola Tesla |
|
Nikola Tesla: Free Energy and the White Dove |
By Commander X |
|
Nikola Tesla: A Spark of Genius |
By Dommermuth-Costa |
|
On light & other High Frequency Phenomena |
By Nikola Tesla |
|
Nikola Tesla – Federal Documents |
On CD ROM |
| My Inventions, Large-Print |
By Nikola Tesla |
|
Nikola Tesla: Incredible Scientist |
By Morrison Colladay |
|
Nikola Tesla's Teleforce & Telegeodynamics |
By Leland I. Anderson |
|
Inventions, Researches & Writings of Tesla |
By Thomas C. Martin |
| Nikola Tesla And The Taming Of Electricity |
By Lisa J. Aldrich |
|
Guided Weapons & Computer Technology |
By Nikola Tesla |
|
Tesla Direct Current ARC Lighting System |
By Thomas C. Martin |
|
The Orders From Nikola Tesla Legacy |
By Zorica Civric |
|
Lecture Before the NY Academy of Sciences |
By Nikola Tesla |
|
Nikola Tesla Complete Patent Collection |
By Bruce A. Perreault |
| Movies available about Tesla: |
| |
| Genius: Nikola Tesla |
on DVD |
| NOVUS: Nikola Tesla |
on DVD |
| Secret of Nikola Tesla |
on DVD |